Poor Cosmo. Our cat suffered through a bout of empty-nest syndrome this spring, after we moved our 51 New Hampshire chicks from their indoor brooder to an outdoor transition coop.
For more than two weeks, faithful Cosmo curled up atop the warm brooder, watching the chicks inside for hours at a time. Naturally, being a cat, he took frequent breaks from this strenuous activity to take naps. No doubt he dreamed about what he would do if the lid were left off the brooder one day. It must have been tantalizing, being literally a few inches above the heads of a lot of tiny little birds. He's a good cat, though, and he didn't really try too hard to get in there. At least, not while we were looking...
As the chicks got bigger (New Hampshires grow fast), occasionally one of them would reach up and peck at Cosmo's tail through the screened lid. It didn't seem to bother Cosmo much; in fact, I wondered if he actually enjoyed these little interactions. He certainly seemed to be fascinated by the little creatures, and I'm sure he got used to hearing their non-stop peeping.
When the day finally came for the big move, it seemed to be a bit of a shock to Cosmo. Suddenly his nice warm perch, complete with soothing background music, was gone. We felt a little bit guilty when we saw how out of sorts he was. But after all, 51 growing chicks do poop, and even with daily cleaning, frankly, we were ready for the babies to move outside.
Now the chicks are going on 9 weeks old, and Cosmo sits on his perch by the living room window, watching them in the sun. Aww.... they just grow up so fast, don't they, Cosmo?
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